


Pretty Things Don't Play In The Dark

by TiredPanAndNotAFan (orphan_account)



Category: Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice (TV 1989), Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: F/F, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Lydia, Multi, NOT BEETLEB@BES, Original Character(s), Pansexual Character, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Trans Adam Maitland, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-01-24 05:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21332851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/TiredPanAndNotAFan
Summary: Lydia Deetz starts her senior year of high school! Yay! Only, she didn't have friends last year, so she makes it a mission to make at least one friend this year. When a new girl shows up to answer her prayers, Lydia can't help but start to crush on her.Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth has been living in the Deetz-Maitland for one summer, and has an increasing hard-to-hide crush on the Maitlands. When Lydia brings home a friend that seems to have all the answers he's looking for, who can blame him for asking?These two nerds stumble right into falling in love, and even if they trip a few times, it will all turn out perfect!... Right?
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland, Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice/Barbara Maitland, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz, Lydia Deetz/Original Female Character(s), They're like siblings or something
Comments: 36
Kudos: 155





	1. The First Day Of The Last Year

**Author's Note:**

> gonna come out and say this this is pure and true self-insert fanfic bc im gay for Wynona Ryder and Sophia Anne Caruso. Yall can fight me but there isn't much other Goldenrat stuff and WLW Lydia stuff so live with it babes

Today marks many things for Lydia Deetz. It is her first day of her senior year of high school. It has been exactly four months since re-summoning her best friend, Beetlejuice.

It's the two-year anniversary of her mother's death, too, but they talk about Emily so much, it felt like they had every day to remember her, not just today.

And while that is very important, the _most_ important thing right now is that it's the first day of high school. Lydia twirled in front of the mirror in her new, and slightly modified, school uniform (she had grown out of last year's stuff, but kept in around just in case) and struck a pose.

"Whatcha think, Beej?" The demon, who was floating just above Lydia's bed, faked being in deep concentration.

"Well, babes, the girls are gonna love ya! Black lace on that stupid pleated skirt, they'll be all over ya," he joked, with a suggestive wink, ducking when Lydia threw a plush Issac (from that horror game, The Binding of Issac) at him. It hit the headboard and fell face-down next to a handmade Frankenstein's Monster plush. She turned to walk out the door, but paused.

"You remember the rules for when I'm gone?"

"Yeah, duh," he sighed, then switched to his Lydia impression, "No flirting with the Maitlands if they don't want it, no destroying Delia's bad art, no going in Chuckie's office."

"And...?" Lydia prompted, raising her eyebrow.

"God, Lyds, fine. No setting fire to the toaster oven," he grumbled, earning a pleased nod from Lydia. The two made their way downstairs-- one running, one flying --before plowing through, and into, the Maitlands.

While Lydia skidded through her ghostly parents, Beetlejuice flew face-first into Adam's chest, knocking them both onto the ground.

"Oh my god, are you two alright!?" Barbara hovered over the two as they untangled themselves. Beetlejuice rolled over and rubbed his head, while Adam sat up and lifted up his shirt. Beetlejuice averted his eyes, his hair turning pink at the edges, but only Lydia noticed.

"Gosh, Beetlejuice, what was that!? Your hair is sharp, or something!" Adam exclaimed, brushing his hand over his chest.

"That was uh, probably my horns."

"Wait, Beej, you have horns!?" Lydia crouched down and sifted through his (disgusting) hair, finding two small, sharp points protruding from his skull. "That is so cool, why didn't you tell me!?"

"Babes, you're my best friend, but I'd rather not say it in front of the Hotlands." The couple in question cringed slightly at the nickname.

"Well, uh, why is that, Beetlejuice?"

"Look, Barb, you're sweet, really, but it's sh*t about my mom. 'Level Five Friends' and all that."

"Oh."

The four stood there awkwardly for a while, but were thankfully interrupted by Delia.

"Lydia, what are you doing just standing there!? The bus will be here is two minutes!" Lydia jumped into action, grabbing her shoes and jacket, getting them on in record time. Beetlejuice tossed her her school bag, which she caught and flung onto her shoulder. Down the hall, Charles was waiting at the door. Lydia wrapped him in a quick hug before flinging the door open.

"Bye guys, wish me luck, love you!" She took off down the driveway, forgetting to close the door, leaving the adults staring at the place Lydia had been just a second before. Beetlejuice cleared his throat and shifted from foot to foot.

"That was exactly fifty-six seconds, if anyone was wondering." (he pronounced it "Fiddy-Six" which would have annoyed Charles if he wasn't so distracted.)

"Wow," Adam commented.


	2. Bus Ride Filler Episode

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia meets a ghost on the bus. She helps them move on.
> 
> WARNING: very gory chapter, i wanted to make this light-hearted but my underlining need to be dark took over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: BLOOD, Guts or Lack Thereof, murder mentions, implied cannibalism,  
not ashamed of the chapter title bc it's what it is  
I'm procrastinating on writing my other fics

Lydia just barely made it to the bus stop on time. She darted on and made her way to the back, sitting down in an empty seat. She took out her phone, fully prepared to ignore the rest of the world until she got to school, but something caught her eye before she could.

Looking up, she saw the the person in the seat across from her probably shouldn't have been alive. They probably weren't, actually. Their entire torso was torn out, their insides gone, and human bite marks all over their skin. Rope burns tarnished their wrists, ankles, and neck, and a stab wound oozed in their throat. Lydia took out her phone and pretended to call someone, starting out with a few bits of one-sided small talk. She turned to the ghost and looked it in the eye, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, you can hear me, right?" The ghost startled when it realized Lydia was talking to them, especially when it seemed like she had been on the phone.

"You-- you can s-s-see me?" Their voice was raspy, and they had to start over a few times when their throat got too full of blood. It also seemed they had a natural stutter.

"Yeah. Do you know what happened?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm--" The ghost's mouth filled with blood. They started coughing, splattering it on the seat in front of them. It quickly faded into nothingness. "-I'm dead. Are-- Are you?"

"Nah, I guess I'm just special. What's your pronouns today?" The ghost looked at her in confusion, so she gestured to the phone. Realization dawned on their face.

"Uh, my name is-- is Angelica. Th-Th--" They coughed up blood, "They and Them." They smiled as best they could at Lydia.

"Awesome. She/her. Can you tell them that Lydia sent you?" Angelica looked confused, before shaking their head and smiling.

"I like your-- your name."

"Thanks. Can you tell me what happened?"

"W-Wh-- Well, i was on my way ho-- sorry, home. Bus driver drove off, I was--" The started coughing, the blood congealing and disappearing in a matter of seconds. Lydia fished a handkerchief out of her bag, courtesy of Adam, and discreetly passed it to the ghost. They coughed into it, then stuffed it into the stab wound. Lydia balked a little, but it was barely more than what she got around the house with Beetlejuice, so it didn't matter, really.

"You good? that sounded pretty bad."

"Yeah, I am now. I was the last stop on the-- the bus, but I never got home. I can't really remember, but i think he did-- did this," They explained, gesturing towards their body. 

"That sounds like it sucked. Do you know his name?"

"Uh, I d-don-do-don't know. His last name was Richardson, I th-think?" Lydia's eyes widened. A grin spread over her face.

"Horatio Flint-Richardson died in prison four years ago. He was jailed six years ago for the murder of a 'girl' named Angelica Buyers." Lydia made air-quotes around the word "girl" pointedly.

"How d-do you know that?"

Lydia shrugged and grinned. "I like to learn about town history!"

"You're weird," Angelica giggled, and Lydia was sure if they was alive they would be blushing.

"I prefer the term _strange and unusual,_" she replied, making jazz-hands (well, hand, she was still holding the phone to her ear) for effect. "Anyway, did you get a handbook?"

"Handbook? I d-d-don't know, what's it look like?" Lydia pulled out a copy of the _Handbook for the Recently Deceased_ out of her bag and left it on the seat. Angelica picked it up and started flipping through it. "Why do you have one?"

"My second parents needed one, and my best friend can get them whenever he wants."

"se-s.. second... parents?"

"They're like you. They live i my attic."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Question-- if you could move on, would you?" 

"What do y-you mean--"Hope dawned in Angelica's eyes, she leaned toward Lydia. "Do you mean 'Move On' like... An afterlife?" Lydia leaned forward, whispering.

"Yeah, the place is called the Netherworld. You do 'public service' there for, like 200 years, then you get to move to the Neitherworld. Do you know your haunting parameters?"

"I, uh, can go on the b-bus route. I tried going ho-- going home, but then I was in a place with a lot of sand, and there was a really big s-snake."

"That would be Saturn, or Sandworm Land. The big snake was a sandworm, they eat ghosts. how did you get back?"

The was--" Angelica coughed, looking up apologetically. "--the bus garage door. went through it-t, it brought me back here," they explained, and Lydia nodded.

"Tomorrow night, can you wait at the driveway of the Maitland's old house? Me and my friend can get you to the Netherworld."

"That sou-sounds great! Do you want the book b-ba-back?"

"Nah, my friend can get another one. We're at school, will I see you tomorrow?

"Of c-course! Bye," Angelica called as Lydia got up, waving shyly. Lydia winked back at her and climbed off the bus, faking hanging up on her phone.

It seemed to Lydia that maybe, she could make friends easier than she thought she could. In fact, she could even try to be friends with someone living!  
That decided it. Lydia was stubborn, and when she got something in her head, she was never letting it go. She would make a new, living friend this year at school, and it would be the best friendship she'd ever had (besides Beetlejuice, of course.)

Watch out, social life, here comes Lydia Deetz.


	3. Showers, Movies, Tears, and Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Lydia is at school, Beej gets invited to a movie marathon with the Maitlands. It's an emotional roller coaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Scars, tears, mentions of emotional manipulation

Meanwhile, at home, Beetlejuice was getting ready for his first real day without Lydia. He had absolutely no idea what to do, and had specifically promised that he would either stay in the house or in the graveyard. As a lonely demon with no pass time other than hanging out with Lydia, he was completely and utterly stumped.

Thankfully, the Maitlands invited him to watch movies with them. All Lydia and Beej ever watched were horror movies, and occasionally Heathers or the Batman movies. Nevermind that he was a blushing mess in his room beforehand, and nevermind that he  _ totally _ would kiss either of the Maitlands if they asked (He had gotten a lot better at the whole “getting consent” thing). Beetlejuice knew that the Maitlands did not like dirt, so, in the most logical course of action he was capable of: He took a shower.

It was awful.

But Adam and Barbara liked it when he was clean, they said so when he came back from his trip in China for his spa day with the Hot Spring Monkeys. He really hadn’t meant to get clean, he really was just aiming to get into a hot spring naked with a bunch of wild animals. Nevertheless, the Maitlands had gone so far as to stand within three feet of him, and if he wanted to sit on the same couch as them and watch movies with them, he was going to need to get clean.

Once he got out of the shower, he summoned himself a new outfit: obviously, a new pair of boxers, a pair of green gym shorts, and a black tank top with the Orion constellation drawn in white dots and lines on the front, a star-shape where the Betelgeuse star was with the inscription “You Are Here” next to it. While the clothes were, admittedly, still dirty, Beetlejuice was pretty sure he was clean (he didn’t have a reflection in the mirror as long as he was in the living plane).

Apparently, he was clean, because the second he got to the living room the Maitlands made a  _ huge f*cking deal out of it. _

“Oh, wow, Beetlejuice! You clean up nice!” Barbara stepped up, into Beej’s space, and ran a hand through his hair. It immediately turned neon pink, which made her giggle. “Oh my god, Adam, come look at this! He has freckles!”

“Whuh-- what?”

“Oh, he does! Beej, you should shower more often!” Adam brushed a hand across Beetlejuice’s face, as if checking whether it was freckles or dirt. Beej blushed and spluttered, the constellation and words on his shirt turning pink. He even missed the chance to make a joke about ‘I’ll only shower if I do it with you.’ It even seemed like they were making a point to ignore the scars running up and down his arms.

“Jeeze, guys, it’s just freckles, we’ll never get to the movie bit at this rate,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. The Maitlands quickly stepped out of the way, Adam grabbing the remote. The three ghosts made their way to the couch, Adam and Barbara each taking one side. Beetlejuice sat on his bean bag chair off to the side. Apparently the Maitlands weren’t having that.

“Beetlejuice, why don’t you sit up on the couch with us?” Adam patted the seat next to him, which was in the  _ middle of the couch, right between the two cutest ghosts on Earth. _

“I-- uh-- I’m fine. Don’t wanna get in the way of you two love-birds,” he teased, crossing his legs. He really did want to sit between them, but they wanted no part of what he wanted, and Lydia taught him to leave people alone when that happened. (Except for that one time she let him shape-shift into Beatrice Juice and hate-flirt with Claire Brewster.) Adam and Barbara liked him when he was out of the way, so that was what he was going to do. 

“Dear, your hair just turned purple, well, lavender, are you alright?” Barbara sounded genuinely worried. Beetlejuice tried to cover his hair with his hands, to no avail. He summoned a black-and-white striped beanie and slipped it on to his head.

“M’fine, Babs. You two get the first movie playin’.” Adam and Barbara shared a look as Beetlejuice turned away from them. A bit of the demon’s hair was poking out of the back of the beanie (it had grown a lot longer over the summer), revealing that it was a slightly darker purple, mixed in with strands of pastel pink. They knew that purple usually meant sad, but they didn’t know what had happened to  _ make  _ him sad, and the pink was still a bit of a mystery. Exchanging glances, they came to a silent decision. Picking up blankets and pillows, they made cushions to sit on either side of the demon. As they settled in next to him, Adam pressed the play button on the first movie, Disney’s  _ The Princess And The Frog. _ They saw Beej’s face heat up, and the print on his tank top turned neon pink against the soft black fabric.

After about two movies, Beetlejuice seemed to forget that his crushes were sitting on either side of him. He had never watched a disney movie besides  _ The Black Cauldron _ before, and he was absolutely invested. He tried to mumble-sing along to the songs, even though he didn’t know them, and the bits of hair that were still sticking out of the beanie were changing color with the mood of the movies; When he saw Prince Naveen, his hair went pastel pink, neon green during the “I’m Almost There” number, a sickly yellow by the end of “Friends on the Other Side.” (Beetlejuice didn’t have a type, but if he did, Prince Naveen would be it.) 

When they watched The Little Mermaid, his fingers tapped to the tune of “Under The Sea.” However, when “Poor Unfortunate Souls” played, his hair turned white. He drew his knees up to his chest, looking down. Adam seemed to sense that something was wrong; he rested his hand on Beej’s shoulder, making the demon jump.

“Hey, buddy, is something wrong?” Beetlejuice tried to shake his head  _ no, _ but his eyes filled with tears and his hair turned blue, which was new.

“Honey, you can tell us when something is bothering you!” Barbara put her hand on Beej’s back, rubbing gently. The demon sighed, hanging his head.

“It sounds like what my… my mom said, when I was only, like a thousand. I was a kid, god, that sounds weird. And… It’s what I tried to do to you guys and  _ holy hell I’m awful--” _ Barbara interrupted him, taking his hand in her free hand.

“Mister Shoggoth, I will be having none of that here! You may have made mistakes, but you’re here now. You make Lydia  _ so happy, _ You’re helpful around the house, and you’re being honest with us! This is what progress looks like, so…!” Barbara’s impassioned speech trailed off when she couldn’t think of more to say. Adam jumped it, Beej’s head whipping around, a few tears leaking from his eyes.

“You’re doing so great since you moved back in. You’re different from your mother, and you’re so much better than her, too! Heck, even Charles thinks so!”

“Y-you guys… really think so?”

_ “Yeah!” _ The Maitlands cried in unison, then started laughing. Barbara kept holding Beej’s hand and rubbing his back for the rest of the movie, and Adam moved so that his arm was wrapped around the demon’s shoulders. Sometime in the middle of  _ Lilo and Stitch _ , Beej stopped crying,, the beanie slipped all the way off his head to show soft green drifting into pastel pink, and summoned a big, heavy blanket that wrapped around the three ghosts. Once the movie was over, he spoke, as if an off-handed comment.

“You guys can call me Lawrence, if you want.”

Lawrence grabbed the remote, switching from the end credits of Lilo and Stitch (which was now definitely his favorite movie) to Moana. The Maitlands did a double-take, staring at each other , then at Lawrence, then Barbara squeezed his hand.

“Okay, Lawrence. Thanks for telling us.”

“Yeah, thanks Lawrence.” The demon’s hair flashed through a few different colors, before settling to magenta at the roots and green at the tips. It probably looked like a watermelon (It  _ definitely _ looked like a watermelon), but he was happy. Adam and Barbara leaned more into him as the opening number of Moana played.

Yeah.

He was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
lawrence


	4. Sweet Mother Sappho Have Mercy On Her Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia makes a friend.  
But, dear lord, this friend is cute.  
Lydia also cries, because of a letter taped to a box of candy.
> 
> (Also full disclosure there's discussion of death)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: FOOD, DEATH, CANCER AND CHEMOTHERAPY, SKULLS  
I FEEL THINGS

Lydia made her way to her locker, still in the same place as last year, still painted red with a black spiderweb pattern a small green splatters (courtesy of Beetlejuice, when they had snuck into the school during summer to repaint it from the plain black it had been the year before.) 

Lydia noticed that there were many more painted lockers than the year before, even one right next to her's. It was lavender at the top and faded to navy blue, with a pink, yellow, and blue feather and a skull painted in opposite corners. It was pretty, and it was weird, which was the perfect mix for Lydia.

She had heard that some of the freshmen and new students got to paint their lockers right after orientation, so there was a fair chance she was getting a scrawny freshman right next to her.

However, that was not the case.

Right as Lydia got done gathering her books, about to find her new homeroom, the absolute prettiest girl she had ever seen went to the locker next to Lydia's, spinning the lock and putting away her bag.

She was tall, maybe a sophomore or a junior, and had soft, wavy-blonde hair that was lavender right at the tips that settled just past her shoulders. The girl's eyes were blue-gray, like the sky during winter, and her lips were soft and pink. She was wearing a large pink sweater under the school-assigned jacket, which violated dress code, worn out Nikés, and a star-shaped mood ring. Her skirt looked suspiciously smaller around the middle and more flared-out at the bottom.

She looked almost like how fairground cotton-candy tastes, Lydia thought, as she quickly shut her locker and dashed in the general direction of her new homeroom, resolutely ignoring the blush that had creeped onto her face. She checked her map, realizing she was right in front of where she needed to be, and walked into the room. Lydia took her seat in the back corner, pulling out a book. Cute girl aside, she could still make it through the year, and she  _ would _ make a friend! It was going to be awesome!

  


\---

  


Oh.

_ Dear. _

** _God._ **

The cute girl was her lab partner in chemistry. For the rest of the  _ year. _

And her voice was cute, too, and how she acted, and her drawings. Oh, gosh, she was  _ adorable _ . Lydia replayed the disastrous conversation in her head, chewing at her lip.

  


~~

  


Lydia was already seated at her lab table, fiddling with the scale set in the middle, waiting for her inevitable bully for the rest of the year, just like every year before. Gearing up for the predicted verbal abuse, she didn't even look at the person who sat down across from her, simply continuing to try to find out how much her nail polish weighed. She was startled when, instead of mocking, she heard a worried, apprehensive voice.

"Uh, hi. I'm new here, and I noticed your locker is right next to mine?" Lydia quickly looked up, and  _ there was the cute girl. _ Being a seasoned expert at pretending nothing was wrong (how do you think she and Beetlejuice got away with so many pranks?), she rested her hand on her chin, grinning slightly.

"Yeah, hey. I'm Lydia. People will tell you I worship demons," she joked, smiling. The girl perked up a bit, sitting forward.

"And do you? Worship demons, I mean?"

"Nah. Don't know enough of them." The girl laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. It sounded  _ magical, _ and not at all like Beej's magic. The girl cut herself off, frowning at the table.

"Sorry, my laugh is ugly," she apologized, shifting in her seat. Lydia waved her hand, dismissing what the girl said.

"Don't worry, I don't mind. It's kinda cute." Lydia's eyes widened at the same time as the girl's. She had definitely  _ not _ meant to say that. "Sorry, I, um… I didn't catch your name?" Lydia mentally facepalmed. She was a  _ disaster _ , and she was already screwing it up, oh gosh.

"It's Beck. Well, Rebecca, but I don't like that."

"Oh, okay."

The two sat there, awkwardly. Beck took out a sketchbook, flipping it open to a blank page. She began sketching out something, a bird, carrying something. When the teacher walked in, she took out another book, this one a composition notebook, and started taking the notes the teacher put on the board. Lydia quickly did the same, but kept watching Beck switch back and forth between the notes and the drawing. It was quickly shaping into what was obviously a crow in flight, carrying a skull of some sort. At one point, they had to draw a diagram for the notes. Lydia and Beck were done before almost anyone else, so Lydia took a chance, whispering to the other girl.

"What kind of skull is that? It looks neat."

"Oh, it's a rabbit skull. I have a few so I know how to draw them." Momentarily shocked by how this  _ soft cotton candy girl _ owned animal skulls, she lagged in answering.

"I have some skulls, but not any rabbit ones. Mostly possums and squirrels and shit."

"Yeah, I brought them from my old place in Ohio. There were tons of rabbits."

"Nice."

When the teacher erased the diagram and started writing the next set of notes, they lapsed back into silence. Beck's posture slowly devolved from wound-up and anxious to relaxed, her shoulders loosening and her pretty pink lips parting enough that Lydia could see her biting her tongue a bit in concentration. 

When she got done with the crow drawing, she flipped to the next page and started drawing some character from a TV show she vaguely recognized. It was much more stylized than the crow, but it was adorable. 

Lydia tore her attention away from Beck and got back to writing the notes, but it was useless. She had taken some online summer classes when she got bored and Beej was in the Neitherworld, so she already knew this stuff. Making dresses and taking pictures only got her so far, and the only other option was causing chaos, which just wasn't fun without her best friend. Thus, with encouragement from the Maitlands, she resorted to self-inflicted education (a term that Delia was not particularly keen on).

When Lydia noticed the bell was going to ring, she started gathering her things. A minute before it sounded, the teacher finished up, letting the students leave early if they wanted. Beck shuffled her sketchbook and her notebook into her bag, taking out her schedule and squinting slightly at it.

"Hey, Lydia -- is that right? I'm terrible with names -- what period do you have lunch?"

"Yeah, you got it. And uhh…" Lydia checked her own schedule, pursing her lips. "Fifth period. What about you?"

"Oh, sweet, same! I'll try to find you at lunch." The bell rang, making both girls jump, but Beck cringed harder. She quickly recovered, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "See ya!" She ran off, leaving Lydia dumbstruck for a moment, before grabbing her things and heading to English.

  


~~~

  


She twirled her pencil in her fingers, staring distractedly at the worksheet she was currently getting done In study hall. Seriously, who assigns homework on the first day!? That had to be some sort of punishable crime somewhere, like the Neitherworld. They had a lot of weird laws down there, one of which was, word-for-word,  _ No Flinging Food When The Sky Is Red. _ The sky is red nearly all the time in the Neitherworld, only turning black when an influx of people enter the Netherworld, it's adjacent destination for the dead. There were a lot of tricky rules that went along with where you were allowed to go and where not to go, and Lydia hadn't bothered learning them all. Not like she was already learning Beck's face, her sparkling fog-blue eyes, her cute laugh, and oh gosh she was getting off track. Getting back to the math worksheet, she completed a few problems, before she started doodling birds in the margins.

Lydia groaned and buried her face in her hands. Where was the dark, gloomy mindset from the year before!? She was a disaster, because of 1 (one) cute girl. As Beetlejuice would say, she was “falling harder than a hangman cut loose.” It was morbid, but that was Lydia’s style, and it was exactly how she was feeling.

But wouldn’t it be cute? Beck, the cotton-candy girl who drew crows and skulls dating Lydia, the proud goth with stuffed animals still sitting on her bed? It would be  _ perfect, _ a yin-yang relationship, think of how they would look--

No,  _ no,  _ ** _no!_ ** Beck was probably straight. Lydia was being ridiculous. She sighed, getting the last few problems done on the worksheet. The bell rang, signaling fifth period. Lydia sighed and gathered her things, making her way to the lunch room.

  


\---

  


The school was obviously starting out with a bang in terms of lunch. Lydia scooped up the watery mashed potatoes with her spoon, gagging when she saw a hair. She dug around in her bag, pulling out a bag of gummy worms (from Beetlejuice), an apple (from Delia), a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich (from the Maitlands), and…

A box of Dots. They were her mom’s favorite candy when she was on chemotherapy. She and Lydia used to steal them from the hospital’s snack machine, they had figured out the master code when Lydia broke her leg. Tears gathered in Lydia’s eyes when she found the note taped to the box, nice and neat in her mother’s handwriting.

  


_ Dear Lydia, _

_ While I’m writing this, you’re asleep in the chair next to my bed. Charles is out in the hallway, talking to the doctor. From what I can hear, it isn’t good. It sounds like I’m getting worse instead of better, but I’ll keep fighting, no matter what, for you and your father.  _

_ Anyway, hopefully, when you’re reading this, it’s the first day of your junior year. How exciting! I met your father when I was a junior. Charles was a senior. Would you believe how much of a geek he was back then? He was on the Mathletes team, and planned on studying to become a teacher in college! He’s changed a lot since then, but I love him so much. I love you, too, Lydia. I hope that someday I can get out of this hospital gown and go have a picnic in a graveyard with you, just like we always planned on doing when you turn 18. But I don’t think I’ll make it that far. _

_ Lydia, I want you to know how much you mean to me. I say it every day, but I love you so, so much, with all my heart. And maybe this year you’ll meet the love of your life, like I did. I’m sure the perfect girl is waiting for you. _

_ Yes, I know about that. I know you don’t want to tell me, because you’re scared, but I want you to know that I fully accept you for who you are. You’re my little Pretty Thing, Lydia. I know I won’t last long. _

_ Go play in the dark for me. _

_ Your mother, for ever and ever, Emily Deetz _

  


Lydia was crying by the end of the letter. Lydia and her mom used to have a song that they sang together, Pretty Things In The Dark. It was their happy song, their sad song, and, when Emily was dying, the first few words were the last things she said. Lydia had finished it for her.

Lydia was so caught up in the letter that she didn’t even see Beck sit down across from her. She only noticed when the other girl passed her a mini-pack of tissues. Lydia nodded thankfully, taking a few, and wiping her face. She pushed the pack back to Beck.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she apologized, scrubbing at her face with her hand. Beck shook her head, pocketing the tissues.

“Feelings are feelings, you can’t really stop them. Whatever that was looked really important.” Lydia smiled at her, feeling another tear slide down her face.

“Yeah. Thanks.”   
“No problem.”

The two sat, eating their lunches. Beck was smart enough to not get the ungodly mashed potatoes, instead her tray was filled with fruit cups and pre-packaged pastries. Lydia worked her way through the sandwich and the apple, finishing with the gummy worms. She carefully put the box of Dots in her bag. When she looked up Beck was done, and sketching something that looked like a dragon. Lydia cleared her throat, unfolding and refolding her legs.

“I think I’m calm enough to hold a stable conversation, if you want,” she offered, cringing at her wording. Beck brightened, setting down her pencil.

“Alright, what’s the topic?”

“Uh… Do you modify clothes?”

“Oh, yeah! A lot of the stuff I buy don’t have the right look to them, y’know?”

“Yeah, totally. The skirts for this stupid uniform are too plain.”

“Oh, totally. I made the bottom flair out more on mine, it just hung way too straight, and I can’t work with that. The seam was hell to redo, though.” They laughed, and Lydia wondered if Beck had made a gay joke or if she was reading too far into it.   
“Oh, yeah. I put lace on mine, and made it a skort.”

“Ooh, I should try that!”

They talked until the end of lunch, about fashion, Beck’s drawings, collecting skulls, and whatever else they could think of.. They checked their schedules, but the only class they had together was biology. Lydia pulled out her phone, swiping past the picture of her and Beetlejuice (as it turns out, digital cameras can see demons) and bringing up a new contact.

“Hey, can I have your number?” Maybe she was imagining it, but it certainly  _ looked _ like Beck had blushed a little.

“Yeah sure,” she said, taking Lydia’s phone and typing in her number, “text me after school.”

“Sure. See ya tomorrow.”

“Bye!” Beck hurried out the door to her next class, choir, while Lydia went in the opposite direction, to history. She had done what she set out to do. Lydia Deetz had made one living friend, on the first day of school, in her junior year, on the anniversary of her mother’s death.

Too bad she was an absolute useless gay, would the ghosts of Sappho and Emily help her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rebecca Marie Reed is a Soft Crowcore


	5. This Story Is A Fidget Cube And The Author Is A Gay With Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Playing with changing perspectives!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: graveyard, discussion of blood, self-harm kinda, implied self-harm (separate from last warning), FOOD, Something akin to an eating disorder  
(If you remember in the musical Beej says he eats when he's sad. well.  
He's sad.)
> 
> i have no idea what im doing ill tell you what I think in the end notes bc i havent even planned this yet. Wish me luck
> 
> tw: self harm ---v  
(edit: i added the trigger warnings cuz i forgot when i posted. Also i edited a part to make it clearer that his scars are self-harm and not Juno harming him. it was late when i wrote that.)

Lydia waited outside the school for her dad's car to appear. He was supposed to pick her up today, so they could go visit her mom's grave down in New York before they went home. Lydia took out her phone and pulled up Beck's new contact, which was named "Beck/The Girl In Your Science Class." Lydia shortened it to just her name and began composing her first message to her.

** _Me: Hi, this is Lydia, your lab partner. Sorry for the show I put on at lunch,,, what's up_ **

_Sent._

* * *

Lawrence sunk down into his beanbag chair. Both the Maitlands were still clinging to him, although now, they were both asleep. He assumed that he would be able to watch whatever he wanted now, because it's not like one can wake the dead. Actually, he could wake them, he just didn't _want _to. If they woke up they would go back to the attic and cuddle without him, and he was not giving up this golden chance so easily.

Lawrence grabbed the remote and started scrolling through Netflix before stopping on the finding the cutest-looking movie ever. _A_ _Barbie movie._ Lydia had called Claire Brewster a Barbie B*tch, and he was curious about what had warranted such a reaction. He carefully turned the volume down, and started the movie.

* * *

Lydia grinned as she texted Beck. The girl was funny, and she was even nice enough to not ask about lunch! Right now they were talking about their parents, which took a tricky bit of information manipulation.

_ **Beck: Yeah my mom is like** _

_ **Beck: a total b*tch** _

_ **Beck: What about you** _

_ **Me: My birth mom is dead but she was awesome. My stepmom is kinda crazy but she means well,,, ** _

_ **Me: And there's also this couple that lives with us so i have another "mother", not like Coraline but you get it. She's sweet** _

_ **Beck: Oh neat. sorry ab your birth mom but your alive moms sound gr8** _

Lydia had to laugh at that. She only had one alive mom, and she didn't even call Delia "Mother."

** _Me: yeah totally. What ab your dad if u have one_ **

** _Beck: He's pretty chill but CANNOT say no to my mom ab anything_ **

** _Me: That sucks man_ **

** _Me: Mine are awesome, birth dad is kinda stiff but he loves me nd the one that lives with us has a really big heart_ **

** _Beck: Can I literally have your family tho_ **

** _Me: You'd have to deal with the other guy that lives with us_ **

** _Beck: how big is ur family_ **

** _Me: _ ** ** _Big_ **

** _Beck: Whats the other guy like_ **

** _Me: chaos rat man. his mom f*cked him up so he doesnt know what 2 do around people_ **

** _Me: he has a crush on the couple that lives with us tho nd its cute_ **

** _Beck: Poly king_ **

** _Me: dunno what that means but probably._ **

Lydia's dad pulled up in front of her. She picked up her bag and got in, nodding at her dad. Charles smiled sadly at her and put a hand on her shoulder, before taking it off to start driving. The GPS told them to make a U-turn when possible, breaking the silence for a moment. Lydia took out her phone to see the new message from Beck.

** _Beck: I could try to explain but its hard over text_ **

** _Me: Ok. I gtg. Text u later?_ **

** _Beck: ye sure_ **

** _Beck: bai_ **

** _Me: Bye_ **

Lydia got out the box of Dots. Charles glanced over, another sad smile tugging at his face as they hopped onto the interstate.

"I read the letter."

"She loved you a lot, Lydia."

"She loved you, too."

They sat in silence the rest of the way to the graveyard. Lydia got out her camera and started loading film, noticing the picnic basket and flowers in the backseat. She smiled.

* * *

Lawrence was finishing the first Barbie movie, and he was _entranced. _He liked the way the story was told like a fable or something (He had given Aesop plenty of inspiration for those, getting stuck in a well as a fox was not fun) and he liked the characters. Barbie was nice like Barbara, he guessed that made sense. The animation was terrible, it was _hilarious. _Lawrence had to keep from laughing too loud so he didn't wake the Maitlands.

He didn't know what warranted Lydia's description of Claire but he was glad it led him to watch this. He loved it, maybe even more than he liked the Saw series. He started the next movie, smiling.

* * *

Lydia and Charles arrived at the graveyard that held Emily's body. Charles grabbed the picnic basket from the back seat, but Lydia grabbed it from him, leaving him to grab the bouquet of white lilies and black roses that were beside it. He shut the doors with a _slam._ The two made their way to Emily's grave underneath the oak tree.

* * *

Lawrence had just finished the second Barbie movie. Although they used basically the same characters, the story was completely different. The animation was slightly better in this one, and there was a dragon! The only dragon that he knew of was a demon that was born before the Earth had alive things. He was named Draco, and had talked to a lot of humans when they first started being smart, so they named a constellation after him. Or maybe it was the other way around. It had been a long, long time since he had even seen Draco, maybe seven hundred thousand years? Juno had banished the old dragon to the way edge of the Netherworld when he had started telling Lawrence about his father, Orion Shoggoth.

All demons were named after constellations, stars, planets, or their namesakes' companions. Juno's original mate was, obviously, a demon named Jupiter, but she had an affair with Orion and divorced Jupiter. Orion skedaddled as soon as Juno was pregnant, leaving Lawrence with a pissed off, emotionally manipulative mom who gave him a "normal" first name just so she didn't have to say his middle name. He scratched at his scars-- his own doing, but Juno's fault, for the most part. For as long as he remembered he hated his name, but after the Hunted House Incident, he came to hate "Betelgeuse" even more. Except for when Lydia was saying it, obviously, but still.

He wanted the Maitlands to call him Lawrence. _Lawrence. _These stupid boring ghosts that turned out to be so not boring that knew about his horns and watched movies with him and made him feel better when he cried. They were going to call him by his first name, before even Lydia did.

As the movie kept playing, Lawrence's hair flipped through colors like someone shuffling a card deck.

* * *

Lydia and Charles were sitting on a blanket beside Emily's grave. Lydia had brought the box of Dots with her, and Charles had brought all of Emily's favorite foods. The two ate in silence for a while, sometimes running their fingers over the words on the gravestone, before Lydia spoke up.

"Hey, Dad. Y'know that Mom knew?"

"About what, Lydia?"

"Uh... well..." Lydia trailed off, searching for the right words. She decided to pull the letter out of her pocket. "She knew I liked girls. Did you?" Charles's brow furrowed for a moment.

"No, I don't think so. I found out when Beetlejuice was pestering you about a boyfriend." Lydia cringes at the memory. Beej had been asking her if the boy she had been talking to on that chat forum she had been on at the time was her boyfriend, and didn't stop for _three whole days. _The teasing had immediately stopped, however, when she had shouted _'I'm a lesbian, idiot!' _in front of her entire family at breakfast. All plans for the day had been rescheduled to make room for a Coming Out Party (Delia's idea) and a movie night. 

Lydia scooted over to show her dad the letter, specifically the section about her "finding the love of her life."

"Mama knew, apparently. She always seemed to know what was up with me," she sighed, leaning into Charles's side. He wrapped an arm around her. Together, they cried for a while. They had every day to remember Emily, that was true, but today was the most important, previous thoughts be damned.

* * *

Lawrence turned off the TV, carefully disconnecting himself from the Maitlands and replacing where he had been with the pillows scattered around the floor around them. He looked back at his sleeping crushes, his hair turning lavender and pink, and ran a hand through his hair. His horns were just starting to grow back from the stumps they had been before, when he cut them off. He would have to wait at least until they were about half a foot long to cut them off again, any sooner and it would be excruciating, terrible pain. Not like it wasn't anyway, just more so. Last time he had taken a bone saw to them when they were only three inches long, and it had f*ckin' _hurt. _However, he would go to any lengths to not have a repeat of what Juno used to do.

He rubbed at the nubs, barely an inch long right now. They kept growing back harder and thicker every time, with even more "alive" stuff on the inside every time, so that means that this time they would definitely bleed. He didn't know how any times he had to wash his blood out of his jacket sleeves, but he knew it was not going to be easy. However, now that they were growing again, they would grow quick, and he could get it over with as soon as possible. The pink, by now, had faded from his hair, leaving it lavender.

As Beetlejuice trekked back to his room, he had the thought to get something to eat to drown his feelings. Technically, he didn't need to, but he was _sad. _To reflect that, his hair faded from lavender to dark purple and blue. He opened the mini-fridge the Deetz had bought specifically for him to keep his less than desirable edibles in. He had magicked it to be bigger on the inside, but no one knew except for Lydia. He pulled out an entire cake, grabbed a spoon from the drawer.

_"You'll never reach your goal weight cuz' you eat when you're sad."_ If he had known how right he had been when he said thet, he never would have.

* * *

Lydia and Charles stayed together for a while, leaning into each other and staring at the letter. The sun was starting to go down by now, painting the edge of the sky a soft yellow. Lydia began humming quietly, before singing softly.

_"When the sky goes dark and the sun disembarks, pretty things play in the dark._

_When the moon shines high on a blackened sky, pretty things play in the dark._

_With tails and wings and other things, pretty things play in the dark."_

Around the end of the second verse, Charles joined her.

_"When the night cloaks the land, just take my hand, we'll dance in the dark of the night,_

_with pretty things with tails and wings, pretty things play in the dark._

_When the sun rises and the pretty things flee, won't you play, won't you play, with me?"_

_Won't you play, won't you play with me?"_

both father and daughter were sobbing by the end. The sun sank just below the horizon, the sky was aflame with reds and purples and yellows. They packed up their picnic basket and blanket and made their way back to the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> completely forgot to add end-notes on the first go-round, so here you are. I was actually planning on ending this chapter happier but it refused to be written. So here I am. With more Sad. here you go.
> 
> i havent figured out a tune for Pretty Things yet so sing it however u want
> 
> heres my twitter:  
https://twitter.com/creative0usern1


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